What's your goal number of actual massage hours per week?

We're always reading those surveys showing how many MTs work how many hours per week or take down how much $ per month/year, worrying that people are being "lured" into the profession with false promises and unrealistic expectations. What I'd like to know is, what is your hours or sessions per week *goal*? Forget about the AMTA worrying that nobody works "full time" -- I'm interested in what we professionals are actually aiming for.

This poll is about table time; I'm putting up another one about income.

Last edited by BJB-LMP on Tue Jul 25, 2006 5:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

For the 1st 9 years of doing massage, I did 20-30 per week. I blew out my shoulder, have had 2 surgeries and am now limited to only doing 10-12 a week. I figure it's better than the alternative of not doing any massage at all. Luckily I'm at a place in my life where I can afford to only work part time.

My idea is 10-12 per week as my practice is purposely part-time so I can have the flexibility to do unexpected and/or special events with my daughters. Luckily, we don't need a second FT income at this time as well.

I really don't like to do more than 20, but for a while I'd like to get into the 21-25 range so I'll feel more comfortable branching out, getting another therapist, etc, knowing I can cut back financially to a comfortable 10-15 meanwhile building up some other income streams. Make no mistake, I plan to make great money in this business while only working what I want to work.

I voted for 16-20... That will fluctuate, though. For Nov-Dec, I'd LOVE to get around 21-25, as we'll have time off from school for about a month and this'll be the last chance like this that we'll get for the next three years lol. Once the Big School starts, we'll probably have to dip down to less than 10. Classes & labs alone will be about 30-40 hrs per week, and that doesn't include ANY homework, lab writeups, or studying! (Doh! Maybe that less than 10 will be both of us combined! lol)

I voted 16-20. Ideally, I want to average 18 clients a week (I'm halfway there next week with 9). The one thing that bothers me though is that people that aren't in our profession find out "oh, you saw 9 clients? So you only worked 9 hours last week?"

I find myself having to explain that it's not just massage time, it's travel, doing laundry, paperwork, etc. I do plan on keeping a time log for a week, because I'm interested in seeing just how much I'm working sometimes. It's certainly not 40 hours, but like we learned in massage school, a 20 hour work week for us is like 40 hours for other professions.

Wow Randi, you are keeping busy. Do you have someone who helps you out by taking appointments?? Could you give us an example of what your day is like?? How do you have time for anything else besides massage and laundry??

I do about 8-10 hours a week during my busy time... I would love to double that amount! Where I am working now they just don't get the marketing issues that need to be there, and don't want to listen to me. So I will be off on my own soon and hopefully get the hours that I want...

I work at a couple different places, only a few of the hours are private clients, so little laundrey to do.

Monday - 5 hrs
Tuesday - 8 hrs
Wednesday - 1 hour, sometimes a couple more. I try and keep this day light. I also get a Target Area Deep Massage on this day, feet, arms/hands and neck.
Thursday - 8 hrs
Friday - 7 hrs - I get a relaxation massage on this day
Saturday - 7 hrs.

I vote 16-20 with both the spa & private clients. When I'm finally able to work for myself I'll increase my goal. Working at the spa the driving around town for out call massage limits how many private clients I can do in a week & not go crazy. I need ME time,,, which is usually Wednesdays. Nearly every other day I'm running around doing massage or chores. Oh joy.

My max in a day is 6 hours. I've not had to do any more than that though, so if I had to work up to more I probably could.

Randy, you are the massage king! I notice that you receive two massages per week, and that is one bit of advice that I plan to implement in my own life/practice. As a therapist, it can be challenging to create the time to take care of ourselves, but you have reminded me of the importance, so thank you!

I have only been working as a MT for 14 months now, and average 10-18 hours a week. When I first started, I couldn't work more than 12 per week, but with time and building up my endurance and learning new body mechanics/techniques skills to make it easier on my body, it has become easier to increasing my hours.

I didn't vote because I don't know what my hours per week goal is at this moment because it depends on the direction my career takes in the next few months. I have an upcoming interview at a hospital, and they have asked me what I would consider full-time in that environment. They suggest 25, and that is something I need to think about. It is interesting seeing such a wide range of goals and actuals here.

It takes a lot out of you to do more than 25 massage a week. I cann't imagine 35...
When I just started I had given a HUGE discount on 1 hr massages so I had to do 30+ massages every week (my cut off was 6 a day but people kept calling and demanding and it wasn't me who was answering the phones).
And let me tell you that the last 2 massages every day I sucked. I couldn't remeber the person, their story or what I did. I was sooo drained.
Now I'm doing 11-15. And not happy with it.
So hopefully when I get my new place I'll be doing 21-25 (16-20 for my regulars and extra 5-10 spots for new clients, "emergency" massages and chiro "no fault" refferals)

I am also doing over 30 hours per week, but they are not all just massage-- I may have 6-10 hrs of full body Reiki sessions mixed in there as well,cause right now I seem to be booking alot of energywork....I guess ppl are needing more emotional balance during this time of the year! I never feel really tired after a long week because I am just so energized from my Reiki sessions. Plus I always get a massage or Reiki session each week. This seems to help me recover fast!

I would have anticipated that the numbers would be higher than I am seeing. My wife and I have plans to open a spa and have 1-2 therapist doing 5-6 a day. I know this won't be the case for the first year, maybe two. Is this thinking unrealistic?

It's a goal, how many you would like to do, not how many you are forced to do. Generally speaking, MT's who work for other people (especially those working for spas) put in many more hours than those in private practice. But then, they usually have no choice in the matter if they want to stay employed there.

Currently I'm at 16-18 a week. It's a comfortable range at the moment. I wouldn't mind having up to 25 a week. I opened my business in July of 2006 and hope to reach the 25 a week range by the end of this year. *crossing fingers*

It's great going to work happy everyday. Where as in the past occupations that I held, were nothing but, conflict and unhappy customers/clients. Yay! for MT!